Ongoing review

I will be adding to this review as I continue using Gutenberg with a Full Site Editing theme

May 11, 2022

• Such a barren peace of software. The interface is plain ugly.
• I guess it’s okay for writing content, but as a page builder, it’s like a cruel joke. There aren’t any controls in the widgets. You can’t make the design you want to.
• Apparently, if you switch the theme, your design gets destroyed.

My takeaway is that, there should be a different interface for building pages and writing content.
So you’re gonna want to install an extension / addon to build pages.

May 12, 2022

• It’s not a WYSIWYG editor. Because What You See in the editor Is NOT What You Get on the webpage. The editor only gives a rough estimate of the layout, which is completely bonkers for a page builder in the 21st century, that was reworked from the ground up and comes out after Elementor, Bricks, Beaver Builder, Divi, Oxygen, Brizy, Visual Composer… It’s like the Gutenberg developers have never seen a page builder before, during or after working on this project.
• The editor doesn’t pink up the CSS from the stylesheets. No fonts, colors, spacing… Which is funny, cause there is an option under preferences:
  Use theme styles. Make the editor look like your theme.

I’m starting to view it more as a really advanced MCE editor. It is easier to hand code the page, than to create it in Gutenberg

May 19, 2022

Finally wrapped my head around this software.

The Block Editor / Gutenberg is and should remain this advanced content editing tool.

As a page builder, it should remain basic and a foundation that third party developers can extend into different types of page builders.

I am not giving it 5 stars, because the page preview in the editor is not an exact replica of what the webpage will look like.

June 17, 2022

Gutenberg, as they say, ’’is not ready’’.

The interface is not made for low resolution screens, so I’m adding some CSS to the backend to sort it.
The issues occur because I set Windows to display ’’text and other items’’ at 150%, so that I can sit back in my sofa and enjoy the 27“ screen from a far.

Reasons for which I decided to hand code pages after all:

• Gutenberg is limited in what you can do. I would need to add a lot of CSS and shortcodes to make a good header. So, why not code the HTML as well.
• When using a shortcode to add your section into Gutenberg, the HTML appears before the CSS and creates a layout shift.
• The query builder is great, but still in it’s early stages, and I needed more freedom. Also, the number of comments is not available for use in the post card.
• The only good Popular Posts plugin is only available as a classic widget. So, I still need to use a regular sidebar.
• The Query Loop doesn’t list Related Posts.
• Can’t create templates for WooCommerce yet. You can only move around the largest sections and add content above and below them.
• Can’t create templates for WooCommerce yet. You can only move around the largest sections and add content above and below them.
• Next and Previous post block is way to basic. You should be able to use all of the elements, like in a Query Loop.

I’m not giving up and will try to build pages, like: Contact, FAQ, About… But at this time, full site editing is not a legitimate option.

June 27, 2022

Was able to load my custom stylesheets. There are a few inconsistencies with 3rd party plugins. Otherwise the display is now an accurate representation of what the live page will look like.

I’ve tested every (over 50) extension. Many of them slow down the site before placing a single block.
The well coded ones need more polishing, but it’s staring to look and feel like a page builder.

• The issue now is the aggressive page caching. It doesn’t want to use new versions of the CSS files.
• When using the tablet or mobile preview, the properties from the stylesheets and from the admin footer are not applied to the preview.
• Considering how basic the styling options are, you’d assume that, like in Oxygen, you’re expected to add CSS to the elements, but there is no designated place for it. Your options are: a) Plugin ; b) HTML block.<br>
  I would like to have a button, that opens up a LARGE popup, were you can add all of the CSS. Than, that code would be turned into a stylesheet file, that loads only on that specific page and is cached.
• Reason why I emphasize LARGE, is because the HTML block is trying to display the code on the page, inside of the block’s pre-defined space. So if I have a grid, with SVG icons, 1em in size, the code will not fit. So, why not just show the result on the page and have the code in a large, comfortable popup, where I can see what I’m doing. Allow me to move and resize the popup and apply changes to the page in real-time.
  And… have the same type of popup for CSS.

I don’t understand who this plugin is for. It doesn’t have the tools that an advanced user needs and it doesn’t have enough styling options that the beginner would need to make the layout that he wants.

If you’re just adding text and images, you’re all set with Gutenberg as is.
Though, if you want to add an H3 header, well you’re out of luck, ’cause only H2 is available.

But, as I’ve said, we can leave it up to 3rd party devs to turn it into a page builder, while the Block Editor remains a content editing tool.

July 12, 2022

Fun fact: Gutenberg core blocks generate styles that are printed into the footer, instead of creating an external stylesheet that is loaded in the header.

The benefits of doing it the Gutenberg way:

• The CSS cannot be cached.
• The HTML will arrive before the CSS.
• The user gets a Flash Of Unstyled Content.
• It’s a sure way for creating layout shifts.
• The reset, global and theme styles are overwritten.

• This topic was modified 4 years ago by John Webber.
• This topic was modified 4 years ago by John Webber.
• This topic was modified 4 years ago by John Webber.